New helper

Hi Everyone,


How long would you give a new helper to learn all / some of the ropes?


I have hired my helper's daughter as the second helper. She is 24, her mother is 50. She has been with us for 3 weeks and my first helper whom I really like/ appreciate is training her. I don't know whether its my being very pregnant causing me to loose my patience or it is her. She seems to move a lot slower than her mother for sure (its her first real job, I think) or even me- 8 months pregnant. She waits for her mother to tell her when to do stuff and I find the lack of initiative annoying- perhaps because her mother had so much experience and knew what to do automatically. Her grasp and understanding of English is much better than her mother's. Yesterday I had to push the stroller uphill because we had a train to catch and it was faster if I pushed. And since yesterday, I am not sure whether my dog is getting a real walk either. I feel her mother is still doing the bulk of the work in the house as well as helping me with my 16 month old. I am going to sit her down tomorrow but wanted to be reasonable with her what I am expecting of her in terms of her work ethic/ commitment. Please do share your experience. Thanks!

Yes, I would agree that 3 weeks is not enough but I was hoping that the mother would be a good/ perfect teacher and it will be a faster learning curve than if she was to arrive here by herself. While talking to the mother I realized that she is showing her daughter how to do stuff by doing it herself- so the daughter just ends up watching. That may be one reason why she is not getting how to do things around the house.


Although, patience is hard to find these days- I have no intentions of firing her at all- she is a really sweet girl who is trying in her own way. I just need to chill and take over the training. I am just curious, how long has it taken people to train their helpers whether with experience or fresh off the boat?

Maybe you also want to have a chat with her mother, whom it seems you have a good relationship with? Tell her that you're not happy with how things are going and maybe the mother can also have a good chat with her daughter. At least this way, if you do end up getting rid of the daughter, the mother will not be totally surprised.


3 weeks is not enough. I would say, to be generous - up to 3 months to really try her out, with a good warning at 2 months if things haven't improved.